From:
"MaryM"
Date: 2010-05-01 04:42:13 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Epogen use in estrus-related anemia
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
> I don't believe the original poster stated that her ferret received >a hormone injection 'as soon as' she went into heat only that she >received a hormone injection after she came into season. Perhaps
Kitty received her first hormone shot within 2 weeks of being fully in season the first time. She went out, came back in a 2nd time and was given the hormone shot around 3 - 4 weeks after being fully in season, so she was on the edge of the one month time frame.
However, I've had jills who have gone past one month several times over the years due to needing a second hormone shot (if they don't go out with the first hormone shot, we repeat it in 2 weeks) or not going out with the v-hob and needing to get a hormone shot.
Just this spring I had a jill that went with the v-hob twice and had 3 hormone shots before we finally just spayed her. At the time of spay her pcv was 50 (she had been in a good 3 - 3.5 months at that time). It took her at least 2 - 3 weeks to go down even after her spay. The only thing that is unique about her is that she strictly eats mice as her diet - she gets 3 large adults in the morning and 3 more at night. She refuses to eat anything else.
[With about half of jills who stay in estrus
going into anemia it is to be expected that
individuals will vary. Just the 50/50 number
alone says that.
--Moderator]
While Kitty does eat mice, she also eats just about anything else (EVO kibble, Bob's Chicken Gravy, baby food).
> In addition, the ferret underwent an ovariohysterectomy when her >pcv was only 16.
Correct and she did great - no bleeding internally or anything out of the ordinary.
She rec'd 22 cc's of whole blood (2 hobs) in her first transfusion, which was ~30 hours after the spay (she crashed and her pcv was 5 at the time - my vet for some reason did not do a transfusion before or right after surgery).
I did another pcv 4 days later (Friday the 23rd) and it was 15 almost 16, so did a second transfusion of ~6 cc's of whole blood (that vet couldn't get more from the donating hob). I did another pcv check 6 days later (last night) and it was 10. A third transfusion of ~12 cc's was done.
I did speak with a shelter person who had dealt with this 5 - 8 years ago. They did HiVite (I'm doing a version of pet tinic) until the ferret was well and daily prednisone for the rest of the jill's life.
I'm waiting to hear back from the vet who did this, but I'm wondering why pred would be useful in this situation and how much would you give? I have prednisolone on hand for the insulinomic shelter kids in the house (5mg/5ml concentration). Kitty weighs about 1.5 lbs.
Any ideas or experiences from anyone else on here would be greatly appreciated. My vet has the same amount of experience in this situation as I do, so we're pretty much flying blind. Thank you!
Mary
[The vet comments in these could be a useful
addition to the discussion.
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YPG1074
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG3097
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG66
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG4198
I searched for
messages with
estrus and anemia
in the message body and these are some
which came up but others may be of interest
as may searches using different search terms
such as
anemia and cause
anemia and types
etc
which can pick up additional useful replies
such as
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG424
(which needs a bit of skimming to reach the
part about anemia)
Reminder for all: the FHL Archives can be
linked to from the FHL (website introduction
on homepage, important addresses near the
bottom of the FHL homepage, links section,
etc.) and is a good location to bookmark.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
With half of all jills who go into estrus at risk for
hemolytic anemia I'd certainly expect individuals
to vary.
A vet in the past told me that transfusions tend to
work best when only one ferret donated, but I don't
know if that is still considered to be accurate since
it was long ago.
--Moderator]
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